Just ask the Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College community, who witnessed the 6-foot-2, 200-pound quarterback break the program’s single-game passing mark with 459 yards in the Blue Dragons’ 58-26 win over then 17th-ranked Coffeyville on Aug. 25.

“I really didn’t expect that at all,” Barnes said of the record-breaking effort in his debut. “Even when the game was about to end and (the stat keeper) told me, I was shocked. It felt good. It felt like I was back on my home field in Fort Walton Beach.”

Further adding to the storybook night, the 2010 FWB graduate paired that with six touchdowns – five passing, one rushing – to give him a staggering 480 yards of total offense.

It was a coming-out party for the 20-year-old gunslinger, who’s used every game since to prove the groundbreaking night was no fluke.

So what’s been the key for Barnes, who’s completed 112 of 180 passes for 1,414 yards (353.5 per game) and 17 touchdowns for the 3-1, 11th-ranked Blue Dragons? It starts with the fact that he doesn’t play favorites.

For instance, of the 12 receivers he’s connected with this year, five have multiple touchdowns on the season. It’s that spread-the wealth mentality that’s drawn the praise of his receiving corps.

“I have no idea how he does it," wideout Jatavius Stewart, who has hauled in a team-best 423 receiving yards and five scores, said earlier in the year following the Blue Dragons’ 58-26 win over then 17th-ranked Coffeyville. "He's the most accurate quarterback I've played with."

And Barnes’ numbers, which lead the conference in passing yards per game and touchdown throws and include just one interception, support that bold statement.

Four games in to the season, Barnes has eclipsed the 300-yard passing mark and thrown for at least four scores in all but one game. The one time he didn’t reach that mark? It was in a 54-34 loss at 12th-ranked Navarro College, and his 243 yards and pair of scores were far from the problem.

But of all the efforts, there was one that stood out and commanded the attention of the country. And it wasn’t the record-breaking effort.

On the road against 19th-ranked Garden City Community College, Barnes completed 29 of 45 passes for 359 yards and six scores to lead the Blue Dragons to a 63-49 win. It was an effort befitting of a star-in-the-making, and it earned Barnes national JUCO Player of the Week honors.

But even as he was making national headlines, Barnes didn’t a big head. Well to be fair, how could he considering he didn’t even know about the award?

“I didn’t know I was the national JUCO Offensive Player of the Week for like two weeks,” he said. “I didn’t find out until I was on the phone with my grandma.”

Pretty good for a guy who entered the season more than two years removed from his last live-game snap, right?

Barnes, who tore his ACL midway through his senior campaign in 2009 at FWB after setting the career marks of 5,801 yards and 51 touchdowns to surpass Wuerffel, greyshirted and redshirted at Troy before transferring to Hutchinson this year.

And the rest is history.

Well, to be fair Barnes’ job is far from done.

“Right now we’re just looking to win a conference championship,” he said. “And from there we’ll think put our focus toward a national title.”

Contact Sports Writer Seth Stringer at 315-4421 or by email at sstringer@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at SethSnwfdn.